I recently bought a new wireless keyboard and mouse combination. As I surveyed the available models, I realized that the main differentiator for me was size — I wanted the footprint to be as small as possible. The ideal size would be the same as the old-fashioned, wired keyboard it would replace. Easier said than done, as today’s wireless keyboards come with all manner of programmable buttons, dials and other ergonomic features that bloat their size to dominate any desktop. I finally settled on a Logitech model that comes with the barest minimum of extra keys.
During the first minute of use I was surprised to discover that natural selection has given my new keyboard a significant advantage. My new keyboard might be small, but it boasts a Delete key that is double the size of the old one, and is now almost as large as the Enter key. I suppose I should not be so surprised — in this age of SPAM and CYA-Mail, the Delete key is probably one of the most heavily used keys.
(CYA-Mail: Cover Your Ass Mail — messages unnecessarily CC’ed to people who will never read them, by senders who think it will help to deflect blame when the sh*t hits the fan. If you have a better definition — you’re welcome to post it as a comment below.)
Email programs have not changed much in the past decade, but the amount of email we get has grown by a tremendous amount, significantly impacting our email productivity. The average information worker gets far more mail than s/he can cope with, and an increasing number of people suffer from "email overload". In this blog, Itzy Sabo analyzes the causes of email overload, discusses strategies to cope with the constant bombardment, and provides practical tips for getting the most out of our email programs. 
4 responses so far ↓
alwayswritng // September 4, 2006 at 5:48 am |
i think that the deleate keys and enter keys should be smaller, as well as the space key. the space key has no right to be as large as it is.
Dave F. // September 8, 2006 at 12:15 am |
The space bar is the size it is because touch-typists hit it with the side of the thumb, harder to do accurately if the key were only the size of the shift or the enter key.
Itzy, in your research did you consider or try a keyboard that doesn’t have a numeric pad and other keys taking up a lot of real estate to the right of the normal typing keys? I’d like a wireless keyboard with a footprint more like a laptop’s so that there wouldn’t be so much distance between the enter key and the mouse.
Itzy Sabo // September 12, 2006 at 9:45 pm |
Actually, I looked for a keyboard with a laptop-sized footprint, and ended up settling for the smallest one I cold find. I like the number pad, but would easily give it up for a smaller keyboard. Because this wasn’t a “strategic” purchase for me, I did not invest any time in surveying the market for the ideal keyboard — just went to Office Depot and picked one up.
Tom // December 14, 2006 at 1:08 am |
If you’re looking for keyboard evolution then John Lewis have the ideal, quirky Christmas gift – a roll-up keyboard! Just stick the rubberised keyboard in your coat pocket and you’ll never have to worry about carrying a cumbersome old plastic model again. Sadly it doesn’t come with a roll-up laptop! Maybe next year.